4 Nov 2009

Mrs Cyborg

I came across this photo for the forthcoming edition of Ultimate MMA magazine and I thought it was really cool.

So I posted it on the forums and was unpleasantly surprised by some of the responses – some of which have since been removed. So this blog entry is about the BJJ and MMA fighter Cristiane Santos, more popularly known as (Mrs) Cyborg.

According to her website, she earned the nick-name ‘Cyborg’ when she started dating Evangelista Santos, himself a well-known MMA fighter with the nick-name Cyborg (the two are now married).

Her Wikipedia entry states she has an MMA record of 8 wins and 1 loss.
Her most high profile fight was against Gina Carano in August [click here for fight report]. The fight was the first time that a major MMA promotion (Strikeforce) has featured a women’s fight as their main event.
She is also a BJJ purple belt and recently fought Penny Thomas in the semi-final of the ADCC in Barcelona. In my interview with Penny (out in shops soon folks!), she talks of her in glowing terms. Mrs Cyborg is clearly a very competent and highly regarded competitor and fighter.

So why the controversy?
One quick google search of her name brings up a large amount of commentary from various people – stuff about her looks, her sexuality, her personality – basically lots of vile and misogynistic comment. Quite awful really.

Now this type of banter is common to sports in general. Look at the kind of remarks that athletes such as Fatima Whitbred and Martina Navratilova have had to endure over the years, and more recently, Caster Semenya.

Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on the negative, let’s look at the positives to this amazing character, woman and person:

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About Me

My name is Seymour Yang and I am an artist and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fanatic. I write and draw content under the name Meerkatsu. You can buy my art prints, BJJ fightwear and clothing over at www.meerkatsu.com or click on the Store links on the navigation bar.